RedLetterWords

Have you Heard?

that the Heart Collection is a collection of art that is very near and dear to my heart?

that it is a combination of my friend Holley's wonderful encouraging words and my artwork?

that it is also available through Dayspring?

that you were formed by God's hands, dreamed up in His heart and placed in this world for a purpose?

 

I love the truths of this print on so many different levels.  

I was formed by God's hands.  Dreamed up in His heart.  And placed in this world for a purpose.  The first 2 are easy for me to get, believe, understand, accept.  

But placed in this world for a purpose?  What purpose?  I didn't know for a long time.  And I struggled.  I volunteered for this and that and everything else and you can read much of that back story here.  What I was really doing was trying to make myself worthy and to figure out my purpose.

The relevation?  It came when I stopped.  Stopped trying to figure it all out.  Stopped trying to do everything and be everything.  We all have gifts.  We all have a purpose.  Some are great at cooking and baking.  Some can decorate.  Some can organize and stay organized:)  Some can sing.  Some can bring a smile and make anyone feel at ease in any situation.  Some can run and exercise and motivate others to do the same.  I know now without a doubt that my purpose is this

Support, honor and respect and love on my husband so that he can be the leader that he was created to be.

Raise our 4 kids to love God, honor, serve and please Him in whatever they do

Create art that reminds anyone who reads it just how much God loves them and how powerful our words are.

Today Holley and I are teaming up to give away Formed By God's Hands Print!  It comes in black or white and you get to pick which color you would like:)

So what do you need to do to be in the running to win this Formed by God's Hands print 

Leave a comment to win - Do you have a favorite piece from the Heart collection?  Which one really speaks to your heart?

Go to Holley's Blog and enter a comment there too!

For extra entries you can follow RedLetterWords on Twitter and tweet about this giveaway.  Return here and leave an additional comment that you tweeted.

Become a fan of RedLetterWords on Facebook and post a link to this giveaway on your facebook page.  Return here and leave an additional comment that you Facebooked!

The Giveaway is open until Ocotber 2 at midnight and the winner will be announced on October 4!  

The fine print. . .

*Giveaway is open to US residents only*

Be sure to head over to Holley's Blog for another chance to win!! 

Here's the winner to the Loved xOXo print!

#43 LeeAnn - Congratulations LeeAnn! Send your mailing address to info@redletterwords.com so we can send your gift! 

I would keep this for myself and put it in my sewing/crafting/guest room. :-D

 

Loved xoXXOx. . Made in Heaven Winner + New Giveaway!

Whew!!  Lots going on.  

But do you know?  You are Loved?  Really.  Truly.  and Always?

His love for you goes deeper than any ocean, reaches higher than any mountaintop and expands farther than you can ever see.  

His love for you doesn't stop because of what you've done (or what you haven't done).  

His love for you doesn't change with the seasons or trends.  

His love for you is immeasurable.

Really.  Truly.  Always. It took me a long time to wrap my head around this one.  I always questioned really?  He loves me even when I am not nice or say or do the wrong thing or even when I should speak up and I don't?  The answer is Yes.  He Loves me Really. Truly.  Always.  Once I accepted that as true forever, I haven't looked back, doubted or questioned it again.  And He loves YOU too!  

Really.  Truly.  Always. 

xOXo.  Here's a funny little side note about this particular print.  During the photography, my son walked in, checked out what I was doing and said . ."ohmygosh mom, did you get that xOXo thing from Nacho Libre?"  Because remember when Jack Black is writing the note to his beloved and signs it with a

hug hug, kiss kiss, beeg hug, . . .?  When he asked me thatI laughed so hard I almost fell off the chair I was photographing from:)

Today Holley and I are teaming up to give away a Loved . . xOXo print! 

So what do you need to do to be in the running to in this Loved. . XOXo print 

Leave a comment with who you would give this to if you won!   Or if you are keeping it for yourself:) or you can just say - I love this print and I would really like to win it!

Go to Holley's Blog and enter a comment there too!

For extra entries you can follow RedLetterWords on Twitter and tweet about this giveaway.  Return here and leave an additional comment that you tweeted.

Become a fan of RedLetterWords on Facebook and post a link to this giveaway on your facebook page.  Return here and leave an additional comment that you Facebooked!

The Giveaway is open until September 25th at midnight and the winner will be announced on September 27th!  

The fine print. . .

*Giveaway is open to US residents only*Print and Book will be shipped separately

Be sure to head over to Holley's Blog for another chance to win!! 

Here's the winner to the Made in Heaven print and God's Heart for you book!

#58 Lois - Congratulations Lois! Send your mailing address to info@redletterwords.com so we can send your gifts! 

There are so many people I would want to give this to that I would need to keep it myself and place it in a prominent place in my home so all who entered could be blessed by it. WOW! What an important message and reminder of who we are and whose we are!

 

Fall Mantle!

It's time!!  I had some huge plans for a new fall print as well as some really cute twists on what I normally do for my mantle in the fall.  Well time simply ran out on me.  I ended up totally shopping the house for this one:)  I got out my tub of fall stuff, found a few treasures, moved some favorites around from other shelves and I think I was done in all of 10 minutes.  And guess what, I love it so much I can't even remember what exactly I thought I was going to do before!

The yellow candles I didn't even change.  They were there in the summer:)  That's my best secret! - choose colors that can work for more than one season! - I do the same thing for Christmas - my candles are red so that I can leave them up until after Valentines Day:)

Pumpkin and squash candle are from Pottery Barn approximately 7 years ago.  Secret there?  Don't burn them! - they don't have a scent anyway so they will last forever and ever!

They Knew How a House is Built 20x20 gallery wrap canvas print.

The acorn -isn't that cute?  From Bath and Body Works a couple of years ago.  That did have a candle in it and I did burn it but I thought the acorn was so cute, I kept it:)

White pitcher - garage sale find - again several years ago!  With pussy willow branches leftover from Spring! 

Happy Fall:)

Made in Heaven

There is an endless amount of creativity in the blogosphere.  I think as a group that bloggers are the most creative people ever!!

Isn't it amazingly awesome when we think about all this creativity and where it all came from?  God made each of us - with our unique gifts and talents, traits and characteristics -  the ultimate creator made each of us in His own image.  He knit us together fearfully and wonderfully.  Every one special and unique.  Like my friend Holley who creatively uses words to encourage and inspire.

I have had a printed out excerpt from her book for months now. I read it again and again and highlighted and sketched all over it to make the prints in the Heart Collection.  One of the very first things I read was 

If you could see the line imprinted on your heart, it would read, MADE IN HEAVEN.  and there's more, alot more but you simply must read the book!

Immediately I sketched it out on the side of the paper as I thought oh what a great reminder of the One who made us!

 

To celebrate we are giving away the Made in Heaven 8x8 shelf mount print and a signed copy of Holley's new book - God's Heart for You!

 

What do you need to do to be in the running to in this Made in Heaven print and God's Heart for You book...? 

Leave a comment with who you would give this to if you won!   Or if you are keeping it for yourself:) or you can just say - I love this print and book and I would really like to win them!

Go to Holley's Blog and enter a comment there too!

For extra entries you can follow RedLetterWords on Twitter and tweet about this giveaway.  Return here and leave an additional comment that you tweeted.

Become a fan of RedLetterWords on Facebook and post a link to this giveaway on your facebook page.  Return here and leave an additional comment that you Facebooked!

The Giveaway is open until September 18th at midnight and the winner will be announced on September 20th!  

The fine print. . .

*Giveaway is open to US residents only*Print and Book will be shipped separately

Be sure to head over to Holley's Blog for another chance to win!! 

Introducing. . . The Heart Collection!

The Heart Collection is here!

My friend Holley and I collaberated together on this collection.  She is an author, blogger, encourager, friend and I love her to pieces!  She was in town for a few days this summer to meet with her publisher and I had her all to myself for one whole afternoon:)  We had lunch and talked and shopped and talked some more.  So I had this crazy idea that we should make a video together.  The short story is this. . .

Her words, my art.  Here's a video from our hearts to yours about how we met and how the collection came to be.

 

The Heart Collection is now available on RedLetterWords and at Dayspring!

Check back tomorrow for a special giveaway from the new collection:)

 

Too much to blog about . . . so I baked instead

   

Ok so its been a long time since I have blogged.  I am a list maker.  and its been on my list for awhile now . . to blog that is.  First it started out real specific like . .

blog about all the new greeting cards

blog about how and where we spend the summer . . like long walks and great talks with my husband, weekends at our cottage where we swim and tube and fish and waterski and watch next food network star (i know by now its over) and I stand up paddleboard around the lake and pretend I am on the cover of athleta 

blog about how the new Just for Boys collection is coming and that is still just a bunch of sketches and ideas swirling around

blog about the awesome firepit that we put in this summer and that I am working on some tree stump seats and ask if anyone has ever done that before?

and then finally when NONE of the above mentioned happened . .  and I am not joking . .  I wrote down this a couple of weeks ago . . 

blog something!!

so here it is . . .  my something, completely random, still doesn't allow me to cross much of the above off my list but at least its sweet and yummy . . and I am using some of the 17 black bananas in the freezer.

Here is my favorite recipe for Banana Bread - its really my friend Rebecca's recipe except that she uses nuts instead of chocolate chips - but really if you make this let me know - its amazing!

1 stick of butter

1 cup sugar

2 beaten eggs

1 1/2 cups flour

1 tsp.  baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1 cup mashed bananas (about 3 bananas)

1/2 cup sour cream

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1/2 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour one 9-inch loaf pan of several smaller pans. In a large bowl, cream the butter with the sugar until light and fluffy. add the eggs and mix well. Whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt: combine with the butter mixture. Add the bananas, sour cream, and vanilla: stir well. Fold in the chocolate chips. Pour into the prepared pan and bake for 1 hour, or until a wooden pick inserted near the center of the loaf comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes: then turn out into a rack. Makes 1 loaf.

I double this and make 2 every time:)